Days Of The Silver Light
by Moogle Empress
Summary: A pair of ill-fated twins, Granas and Valmar once lived a peaceful and carefree life; however when a group of soilders invades their home and kidnaps Valmar, Granas will do whatever it takes to save him.  Pre-Grandia II  Discontinued
1. Chapter I: Paradise Lost

_**Days Of The Silver Light**_

Disclaimer: I do not own Grandia 2. I wish I did, but I don't. T.T

Genre: Drama/Angst/Family/Tragedy

Pairings: None

MAJOR SPOILERS HERE! I MEAN BIG ONES! You've been warned. So don't complain, kay? Thank you for your understanding.

Note: I wanted to give a more dramatic and tragic feel to the relationship that Granas and Valmar probably shared but the game never implied or explained on. I hope you all like it. **n.n**

Summary: This is a tale from long, long ago, long before the journey of Ryudo and his companions to stop Valmar's awakening. A pair of ill-fated twins, Granas and Valmar once lived a peaceful and carefree life; however when a group invades their home and kidnaps Granas, Valmar will do whatever it takes to save him.

This was only the start of the sad story between these two young boys who would ascend to godhood and the slow corruption of Granas' brother, Valmar. Let us go back in time and witness the true story behind the tale of the two gods.

**Chapter I: Paradise Lost**

_Seven years ago..._

_It was dark, raining night, the windmills of the small village that lived on the mountains of the Silesia continent turned slowly as the rain still pelted down from the heavens. Inside one of these windmills, however, was a young woman who had just passed away shortly after giving birth to two sons..._

_Little did anyone at that time knew just how important these two now-orphaned boys would be many years later. The heavens cried along with the two newborns at the loss, but thankfully, the matron of the small Orphanage here decided to take them under her wing along with the other orphans._

_As the mother never had time to name her two sons, she decided to name them for her. She chose the names that would forever engrave the history of this world: Granas and Valmar..._

~0o0o0oo0o0~

Seven Years Later

A beautiful summer day shined down on the windmill village, the fields were blooming with an abundance of flowers, covering the green fields like a blanket. It seemed like a peaceful day, but this peace was shortly disrupted when a loud yell broke the air of tranquillity so suddenly.

"HEY! You hooligans! Get back here!" A seven year old boy chased after two slightly older boys near their home, the Orphanage. He had auburn hair that was short lengthen, with one strand of hair standing up like an antenna. He had matching crimson red eyes and his skin was slightly tanned. He wore ordinary clothes of thin brown shirt along with matching brown pants, he just wore worn out slip on slippers for shoes as it didn't matter how they looked as long as they could be used.

"Ahhhh! It's demon boy! Run!" One of the older boys ran for their life, even though the boy was younger than them, he was anything but a normal seven year old.

"He'll murder us!"

"You mess up the laundry! Do you realize how long it took to get them all washed? If you're going to run around like little imps then do it away from us!" The boy yelled out, swinging a wooden bucket around, before throwing it.

Meanwhile two children, who were still at the washing line, just witnessed the whole thing from afar.

"Valmar let it go already." A young boy of ten years called out, while picking up the now dirty blankets.

A much smaller girl, jumped for joy, encouraging Valmar on which the ten year old glared at the girl. "Don't encourage him, Samantha."

Eventually Valmar finally caught the two and towered over them menacingly. "Alright, punks. You're going to take full responsibility for this."

They both looked at each other confused and looked back at Valmar. "We are?"

"Yes, you're going to clean all those things you got dirty! By yourselves!" Valmar answered, pointing back to the laundry line.

"Yeah! Clean them good!" Samantha beamed. The other boy next to Samantha just sighed.

"B-but it was turn today!" One of the boys gaped in shock.

"Well," Valmar smirked evilly. "This is will teach you a lesson then, won't it?"

"Uh, hey, what happened to that bucket you threw, Valmar? The other boy questioned.

"Now that you mention it...Where did it go?" Valmar raised his eyebrows in realization.

"...! Valmar, over there!" The boy back at the laundry line pointed out with a panicked expression.

What Valmar saw made him cry out in horror, the bucket had struck none other than his own twin, it seemed to have landed on his head and now his face was covered by the bucket. "Granas! I'm so sorry, are you okay? Say something!" Valmar hurried over to his brother's side and shook him fiercely in order get a response from him.

Everyone had worried look on their faces about this turn of events. That was until they heard some giggling from underneath the bucket. Valmar went ahead to take the bucket off Granas' head, only to find that he was just fine and stuck his tongue out playfully. "Ha! I got you! I got you~!" Granas cheerfully cried out triumph. He had blonde hair that reached to his shoulders and sky blue eyes that contrasted drastically to Valmar.

Valmar's eyes widened when he registered in his mind that was tricked by Granas, of all people!

"You actually thought you had hit me? I never knew you were so gullible, big brother." Granas laughed.

"Granas...Yooouuuu..." Valmar growled in annoyance while blushing with embarrassment. His anger was soon forgotten when he heard Granas' laughs turn into a fit of coughs. "Granas? Are you okay? You didn't take your medicine, did you?" Valmar asked with a worried tone.

"I didn't it. I'm fine, really." Granas shook his head.

"You're a bad liar." Valmar rolled his eyes.

"...Can I just stay out a little longer today? Besides, it's a nice day! Please?" Granas pleaded.

"But..."

Granas gave him his best kicked puppy eyes look; he knew that worked wonders on Valmar. "Damn it; don't look at me with those eyes...Fine...but only just for today." Valmar sighed in defeat.

"Thank you." Granas smiled.

"Well, since you're out, let's go exploring~!" Valmar cheerfully added, dragging Granas away from the Orphanage.

"...Did he just ditch us?" One of the older boys blinked.

"You mean you've known Valmar for this long and haven't caught on to it? Alright, you heard what Valmar said, you have to help us out in payment for pulling the laundry off the line." The ten year old shrugged.

"Do we have to?"

"I'll tell Valmar~" Samantha slyly noted.

"Alright! We'll do it! Just don't tell him!" The two were quick to comply at that reply.

"...That's quite sad." The ten year old commented, but the help wouldn't hurt.

~0o0o0o0o0~

Elsewhere, a distance away from the village that they had been born and raised in for the last seven years, Granas and Valmar sat on the balcony top of an abandoned windmill on a lone high hill. The twins had found this place on their own sometime ago, so they called their 'secret place', a little sanctuary that they both shared, and a secret that only they knew.

From what they knew from the Matron, their mother passed away shortly after giving birth to them and their father was unknown, as the mother never had time to reveal it. Valmar was the older twin while Granas was younger by a few minutes. They weren't identical, but they were still twins all the same.

While Valmar was healthy and always running around with energy, Granas was not so fortunate. He has had a sickly body since infancy, but his will was strong and had fought to stay alive. The twins had always be inseparable, even as babies, their powerful invisible bond was as strong now as it was the moment they were born into this world.

Valmar had always worried constantly about his brother and refused to ever leave his side when he was bed-ridden, Granas had always felt like a burden to his brother, he knew that Valmar could do much more if he wasn't holding him back. Valmar may not act or look it, but he was quite intelligent for his age, and he could become a prodigy if given the chance. However, he knew Valmar would never take it; he would rather stay with Granas than leave him.

In a way, Granas also knew that he was being selfish, as he didn't want Valmar to ever leave him. He was the only family he had left and loved him more than anything in the world, he would even gladly give up his life if Valmar's was threatened, of course Valmar would scold him for such a thing, but he didn't care. He couldn't bear to live on if anything happened to him.

"-anas, Granas! Are you there?" Valmar's voice droned in as Granas' trail of thoughts ended.

"Huh?"

"You didn't hear a word I said, did you?" Valmar sighed.

"Ah...no, sorry." Granas smiled apologetically.

"Well, I said where do you think we'll be when we're older? You know, are we going to explore the world together or what?" Valmar repeated the question he had asked before.

"Hmmm...To be honest, I never really thought about it." Granas tilted his head as he thought about it.

"If you ask me, I think we're going to make history!" Valmar beamed.

"...Hahahahaha!" Granas bursted into laughter while Valmar pouted. "Don't laugh...I was serious."

"Valmar, do really believe what you just said?" Granas smiled lopsidedly.

"Of course, or we fail trying." Valmar smirked.

"Well, who knows? You could be right. As long it's with you, I don't mind where we go or end up." Granas answered.

"Well, I'll take that as a good enough answer." Valmar replied. He looked up to see that the sun has nearly sunken into the hills north of them. "Better go home; Matron will be mad at us if we stayed out any longer." Valmar turned to him, but noticed that Granas had grabbed on to Valmar's hand and held it tightly as he shivered.

"Granas? What's wrong? Are you cold?" Valmar asked.

"Can we...stay like this a little longer? I won't wanna go home yet, I like it this way, just the two of us." Granas sadly spoke.

"Granas?"

"I'm scared..." Granas whispered.

"Scared? Of what? Did someone frighten you? I swear, you tell me who it is and I'll give him a lesson he won't forget!" Valmar punched his fist into his open hand.

"No...It's nothing like that. I've been having really horrible nightmares lately, the more I see them, the more I'm frightened. They feel so real that sometimes I think they're actually happening..."

"Nightmares? And you haven't told me about this until now?" Valmar frowned.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to worry you more than you already are about me." Granas apologised.

"Well...they're just dreams nonetheless, no matter how real they feel. That's just your mind playing tricks on you." Valmar said logically.

"You're probably right, but I still don't feel reassured." Granas sighed sadly.

"Well, what's so bad about them?" Valmar pressed on.

"Well...they're a little foggy but...I keep seeing a ruined island, scarred and torn by some battle that had probably taken place beforehand. It's raining and the skies were grey, I'm looking up to the sky but I also see a shadowed face looking down at me, with tears rolling down his face. I'm wondering...if that person whose looking up the sky...is me." Granas explained.

"Wait! Are you saying that you're having dreams about your death?" Valmar's eyes widened.

"Well...I don't know, I think it's me. I feel though that the person crying in my dream was you, but I don't understand why..." Granas added.

"...Granas. You won't die, I'll make sure of it." Valmar said with determination.

"But...you can't stop nature from taking its course, Valmar. People die, that's how life is." Granas reasoned.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean you have to die young! You've managed to live this long, right?" Valmar argued.

"That's true...but for how much longer? I don't know when it will be my last day, so before that day...I want to spend as much time with you as possible." Granas countered.

"..." Valmar couldn't retort to that.

"If I could stop time, I want this moment to last forever...but I can't..."

"You're so stupid, Granas." Valmar tightly embraced Granas, as if he feared Granas would shatter into a million pieces if he let go. Granas just returned it, knowing all too well that life's sweetest moments are too precious to waste.

"I'm sorry, Valmar. I've ruined the cheerful atmosphere, haven't I?" Granas asked.

"Don't be silly. You think I care about something like that right now? Anyway, I have an idea of what might keep you fighting." Valmar answered, he released the embrace to look at his younger twin.

"What?" Granas looked confused.

"Let's make a promise! That way, we'll have to stay alive in order to uphold it." Valmar cleverly suggested.

"Huh, that sounds like a good idea! But...what kind of promise?" Granas asked curiously.

"Hmmm, I know! If we were forced to be separated, we will always try to find each other again. How about that?" Valmar asked thoughtfully.

"I doubt that will happen, but alright, that's something worth fighting for, it's a promise. Pinkie swear." Granas raised his small finger and hooked it around Valmar's own small finger, thus sealing the promise.

"I wonder if anyone's noticed how long we've been gone?" Valmar wondered.

"You're asking that now?" Granas smiled.

"Well, you're not the one who gets pinched by the ear when it happens." Valmar whined.

"That's because I'm special." Granas teased.

"Oh, is that so? It's not fair that I get punished for something that was entirely your doing this time. So I have no choice but to...torture you!" Valmar had an evil smile curl up on his lips and so suddenly, tickled Granas at the spots he knew were most effective.

"What? Hey-! Hahahaha! Valmar, noooo! Stop it, hahahaha!"

"Oh, you want more? Okay." Valmar played along.

The blue skies turned to an orange-pinkish hue, the laughter of the two children filled the air at what would otherwise a lonely hill with a lone abandoned windmill.

~0o0o0o0o0~

The two twins decided to return back to the Orphanage as it was now night-time and way past the time that the Matron would ask her charges to come back home at. They were still a bit giddy from their tickle-fest fight.

As they came closer to the village, a disturbing scent filled the air which made them more alert than before.

"Hey, can you smell smoke?" Valmar whispered to Granas.

Granas simply nodded, confused at why they would smell such an awful scent.

When they started to hear cries and screams coming from the village, their eyes widened in fear and horror. They both looked at each other before rushing all the way back, when they arrived, what greeted them was gruesome and horrible to witness.

The windmills and the small houses were burning like an inferno, even the Orphanage wasn't spared. Bodies littered the once white petals of the flower that bloomed here, staining them in dark red. One body in particular shook Granas' senses and took a few steps back in horror.

The body belonged to none other than little Samantha.

"Samantha!" Valmar bent down to check her pulse, but it had stopped beating a while ago. "...This can't be happening. How could this happen?" Valmar shook his head in disbelief.

"Who...who could kill a sweet little girl like Samantha? It's so...inhumane." Granas's voice shook in fear.

"Don't look, Granas...but...Samantha wasn't the only one..." Valmar looked down.

Completely ignoring what Valmar said, he looked further to see that all their friends from the Orphanage, even the most youngest weren't shown any mercy. Taking in a sharp gasp and covered his mouth with both of his hands.

"What kind of monster would do this much killing?" Valmar asked mainly himself.

"That would be us, little brat." A deep voice called out, making Valmar alert and stepping in front of Granas.

"You...were you the ones who did this?" Valmar roared.

"Why yes, we were. We were under the orders from our leader in Saint Heim to return with two children who were rumoured to possess...'special' qualities, shall we say? We were also ordered to leave no witnesses, so we killed everyone in this village. In fact, besides from you two, we just finished off the last one." The leader of the merciless group of soldiers explained, throwing the body of the last person they killed who was...

"Matron!" Granas cried out.

"You monsters! I hope you all burn in hell!" Valmar spat.

"Ooh, the little kitty has claws. How cute." The leader scoffed. "No matter, we got what we came here for, we were told by our Intel that a strong possible candidate for our new experiment lived up here. After seeing you in action, I know for certain it's you." He added.

"...! So you killed everyone just to find me?" Valmar clenched his fists.

"I already told you, we can't leave any witnesses, which means your friend here has to die too." The leader drew out his blade which had dried blood still stained on it.

"Like hell you will!" Valmar spat back acted as Granas' shield. "If you want to kill him, you'll have to run through me first!"

"Valmar!"

"Valmar? So that's your name is it? I admire your bravery, boy. Very well, I'll spare your friend for now. Arrest these two." The leader ordered.

"Yes sir." The nearest solider obeyed and tied rope around their arms, of course, they offered some resistance at first.

"Alright, mission accomplish boys. We'll go in two separate groups, my group will take the boy back to Saint Heim. And the other group...you take that boy to some village and sell him off to someone."

"Yes sir!" The soldiers that held Granas hostage saluted before attempting to drag Granas away.

Of course, neither of the two were just going to let it happen. They did everything they could, digging their feet into the ground, trying to pull back on the rope hoping that they'll let it slip.

"Alright, this is just getting on my nerves. C'mere!" The leader got annoyed and picked Valmar up before putting him over his shoulder. The soldiers that held Granas copied their superior's actions, making it more easy for them to leave.

The home they knew for seven years, burning into the ground, started to fade away from their eyes as they were dragged further away from the only home they ever knew. It wasn't until they came to a fork road that they started acting up again.

"Granas! Let me go, you monsters! Granas!"

"Valmar!"

The twin's hands nearly touched each other but they were sharply torn away as the groups made a sharp turn going in different directions.

Soon enough, Valmar and Granas lost sight of each other, for the first time ever in their lives, they felt a part of them had died. But this was not the end for either of them, for their greater destiny...was only just beginning...

~0o0o0o0o0~

Hurray! It's finally finished! Hopefully this is the beginning of my first Grandia II fan fic in a long time. I hope that it turns out well and I get much further than I did with my other ones. But I've got good ideas for this one. XD

As I said back at the beginning of the chapter, I wanted to give a more dramatic and tragic feel to the relationship of Valmar and Granas. And mean they basically talk about the bits of the past that were hidden throughout the game but they NEVER really explained the story that Granas and Valmar shared, like what were like before they human and stuff like that.

And what I like in this fan fic it shows that Valmar was _actually _human once and not just the 'evil god of death' that everyone basically keeps saying throughout the game with no background done on either Valmar or Granas. After all, no one is born evil. =3

Please read and review the story, I would love to hear your comments on this. Helpful criticism in order to make my writing and this story better is appreciated.

Flames and insults are **NOT **wanted, any found will be ignored. So you would be wasting your time flaming me.

I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter so far. There is plenty more to come in the future. **n.n**

Okay, see ya all in the next chapter for Chapter II! Moogle Empress signing out!

Moogle: Kupo!


	2. Chapter II: Promise

Heya guys, this is Moogle Empress, taking time to review the responses I got from the fan fic thus far. So far I only got one, but even just one makes me really happy.

Dis: Thank you so much for your review, I'm really glad you like it. I thought it was about time Granas and Valmar got their own story. XD

Depending on the success of this one, I might make a sequel which will center on a 'certain' god, if you know what I mean. =3

**Chapter II: Promise**

_Eight Years Later_

Eight long years passed since that fateful day, the day when Valmar and Granas were torn from each other by Saint Heim solders who attacked and massacred everyone they loved back home. A familiar shade of golden hair walked around what was said to be Saint Heim's captial itself.

He wore a white tunic with matching baggy pants and boots. He wore a silver cloak around his neck and a brown belt around the middle, with a dagger at the side of his hip attached to the belt.

He looked up to what a large building of sorts, there was not many windows and wherever there were windows, they were covered by curtains. They were definitely hiding something in there, and to his hope, where Valmar would be.

This was Granas, who had changed from the seven year old boy he once was. Although he was the same Granas in personality, he was now fifteen, his immunuity system was still very bad, but at least he wasn't in a fit of coughs constantly now.

Granas had escaped his kidnappers, but got injured when he tripped and fell into a ditch. He was saved by a travelling mercenary, who was actually a lot nicer than he pretended to be. He was known as a Geohound by his trade, but he still allowed Granas to travel with him at least until he could fend for himself.

The mercenary taught him how to fight, how to use magic and even had some basic education, it's not much, but better than nothing. Although Granas was normally a forgiving person, he will never forgive those men who not only killed everyone he cared about, they stole his older twin from him. All he could do now was go inside that place and just pray that Valmar was there and save him.

If he was there, there was no way Granas was leaving that place without him. He would save him or die trying.

~0o0o0o0o0o0~

Valmar was more than ticked off with the people of this place, he had an powerful urge to commit mass murder on everyone who worked here, but he managed to supressed it. After all, he would be no better than those soldiers if he let his darker emotions get the better of him. He found out that the leader's name was Atlas and he had sworn one day that he would end that man's life, just as he ended his and Granas' own peaceful life.

He was currently locked in a white library wearing a simple ragged brown robe with torn pants underneath, and he was definitely not reading another textbook after just barely finishing the last one. Ever since he was brought here by Atlas and his group, his life had been nothing but a living hell, he was subjected to horrible experiments that hurt so badly he thought would have died. He was pumped with so many unknown liquids into his bloodstream, giving him abilities he never had before, not that he wanted them to begin with. And given how his intelligence have developed over the years, he had been given so many complex books to read that he thought his brain would burst.

Oh, how he wanted to get out of this place, to find Granas and never leave his side again. It was the promise that he and Granas made that kept him alive when there were times he wanted to just curl up and die. He prayed constantly Granas' safety, he only knew that part of Atlas' group had taken him somewhere to be sold to slavery, he really, _really_hoped Granas didn't suffer that fate.

The other candidate that Atlas mentioned when he first encountered him died not very long ago, that poor soul probably couldn't take the torture anymore, Valmar felt that he'd be following him next if this carried on, he had to get out of this prison, somehow.

"So, how is AG12 doing?" Atlas's voice could be heard from outside room. Valmar rushed over to overhear the conversation, he was lucky that the door was not soundproof so he could hear clear enough to make out was they were saying.

"The emotional levels of this subject are unstable, not long ago, he nearly killed one of my colleagues by choking but he seemed to have realized his actions and froze, giving us time to tranquilize him. By that result, I'm going to assume that his violent side is now easily more provoked than before, with all the alterations to his body, it's almost like if he's starting to form a split personality disorder." A elderly scholar-looking man explained.

"I see, but that was the idea of his project, right? To create an artifical god? One that we can strike fear into the hearts of people, to compel them to obey our rule. Our 'biological weapon'?" Atlas responded to the report.

"Yes, but he's becoming more and more erratic! Almost to a point where he's unpredictable now, if we give him anymore genetic enhancements serums or use the 'god generator'. He could finally snap and kill us all." He strongly spoke up.

_'Wait, that's what this was all about? I'm some...some weapon?' _Valmar yelled in his mind, so all this time, they were trying to create some terrifying bio-weapon that would threaten the world to obey one country? They killed innocent people, toyed with people's lives and their bodies, make them suffer a life worse than death, just so they can play god and have world dominion?

It was enough to make Valmar feel sick, how could humans stoop this low? To have show no mercy to their subjects here? How they've been tortured and how they brutally abused children and young adults alike here, all so they can just play god?

_'If there truly is any evil in this world, it lurks in the hearts of men' _That was a famous line he once read in a book back home, back when life was so simple and pure, back when all he knew was paradise. He never thought too much about it back then because he never thought it was possible, but after eight years, he was no longer obvlious to this cruel truth...That humanity had this darker side to their nature, a cruel and malevolent side that could only be called a 'monster'.

"This is one of our most longest living subjects and you're starting to get cold feet now just because he tried to choke someone? Please, your only concern should be perfecting this weapon, to put it into good use for our needs when the time comes." Atlas replied.

"...I still think this is a very bad idea to progress any further, but...if it's absolute, then I have no choice. We'll continue the experiments tomorrow."

"Good, glad to hear it. I'll stay here for the night to see the event tomarrow, to see for myself just how far our little puppet has come," Atlas smiled, he then turned to the door. "I know you can hear me, boy. Like it or not, you're going to be good tomorrow and try not to kill anyone like you pulled this morning."

Valmar narrowed his eyes coldly and kicked the door, making a very large dent in it. "Atlas! You just wait! I'll put you in your grave, you inhumane bastard! Where is Granas? What have you done to him!" Valmar yelled from the other side.

"Granas, Granas, Granas, that's all you ever seem to talk about in front of me. Was he really that great of a deal?" Atlas mocked.

"He means everything to me and if I find you put even put a scratch on him, I'll rip you to pieces!"

Atlas simply chuckled darkly. "Oh is that so? Maybe I shouldn't have gotten rid of him and brought him here as well, at least then you two can suffer together."

"Why you-!" Valmar growled.

"I'll be looking forward to tomorrow. Let's leave him, professor, he obviously needs time to cool down." Atlas finished as his footsteps started to walk away, with the professor's feet following. Once their footsteps were beyond Valmar's hearing, he slid down the metal door until he sat on the white floor, he brought his knees up to his chest and encircled his arms around his legs.

"...I've got to get out of here. I don't care how..." Valmar sighed. He looked up to the ceiling, wishing that it was the blue sky that he remembered so vividly back home, he had always hoped that this was some feverish nightmare and he would wake up back at the Orphanage with Granas beside him. Sadly, his hopes are always dashed to peices.

"Granas, I never thought that I'd need you more than ever...Give me strength for just a little longer..."

~0o0o0o0o0~

It was the dead of night, well according to the moon's position it was. Valmar knew now was the time to act, it was now or never to attempt an escape. He wasn't very keen about the so called 'expriement' tomorrow if it meant being in that machine again. In his enclosed cell that was brought back to after being locked in the library, he brought out a twisted needle that he stolen a few days ago during one of his daily visits to the science lab. He placed it into the keyhole and blindly twisted and turned it to unlock the door.

Thankfully, the people were dumb enough to put Valmar in a cell that he could break out of. After a few failed attempts, he finally was victorious as he heard a satisfying click, discarding the needle, he quietly opened the door and sneaked out before closing it behind him. He fluffed up his bed before-hand to fool the guards into thinking he was sleeping.

He sensed a feeling of freedom for the first time in eight years, but it would not be over until he finally leaves this place behind him. If he saw Atlas on the way out, he would not hesitate to finally put an end to his tyranny.

Running down the hallways blindly, not knowing where to exactly go, he carefully sneaked around areas that still had people and guards stalking the halls. He saw some sort of floating device and timidly stepped on it, making him startle a bit, the device hovered downwards, going down loads of floors before it finally came to the bottom.

His heart started to pump faster than before from the adrenaline he was feeling, he was so close...He was surprised how far he managed to get without getting caught. Once on the bottom floor, he saw the large doors that led to his freedom, to the world that he had been taken away from for the last eight long years.

He ran as fast as he could before a voice echoed in the air that made his blood run cold.

"Nice try..." Atlas cruelly whispered as he picked the boy up by his throat, not tightly enough to suffocate him but enough to keep him in midair as he lifted him off the ground.

"At-Atlas? How-?" Valmar managed to spit out even though he his throat was being somewhat restricted.

"You really thought that after our little chat today, I would think that you would stay in your cell? Such naivety. You should just accept your fate, you will never _leave _this place alive. I believe it's time I finally snuffed out that annoying determination you have, once and for all." Atlas sneered before he threw him to the floor.

Before he could carry out his cruel deed, something stabbed his arm holding the blade. He cried out in pain as he let go of his sword and held his injured arm, which had a dagger thrown into it.

"Are you alright?" A mysterious blonde-haired boy asked him as he brought out his hand to help him up. There was just something about him that felt...very familiar, in the moon's light behind him, he almost looked like an angel of salvation.

"Ah, yeah. I'm fine, thanks. You really saved me back-" Valmar took hold of the hand and was helped up by the blonde boy. When he made eye contact though, he stopped mid-sentence eyes widening in both disbelief and shock. He could feel his heart tightening like an vice, it seemed the blonde boy also seemed to have the same expression on his face as well.

Valmar tried to speak but his lips seemed to fail him as it quivered, he finally managed to say the words he had wanted to say for so long.

"Granas? Is it...really you?"

~0o0o0o0o0~

Granas was in a state of overwhelming shock and thought for a moment that his eyes were playing cruel tricks on him. He had first thought that he was one of the poor victims here trying to escape from this horrible place and that man had looked like he was going to hurt him. So purely on instincts, he stabbed the man's arm, mainly the one that he used his weapon with.

But when he saw the face of the victim, it was alarming. It couldn't be him, could it? Seeing his face, he couldn't be mistaken, even after eight years, they would be able to recognize each other, he's changed a bit, but he still had the same eyes that Granas always remembered. He approached closer and gently touched his face.

"Valmar?" Granas whispered.

This precious moment was ruined when Granas was suddenly grabbed and thrown roughly to the ground, while Valmar was also pushed out of the way, by none other than Atlas who looked furious.

"**YOU?** How did you-! No matter, I'll do what I should have done eight years ago!" Atlas roared, ripping the dagger out of his arm and grabbed the sword with his other hand.

Granas' eyes widened in horror and crawled back a bit from the blood-thirsty man, his memory coming back to him of who he was. "You're...!" Granas gasped looking horrified.

Seeing this, Valmar suddenly felt a powerful pulse throughout his body, it was an dark and overpowering. Seeing red and purely on the dark instincts that swirled in his heart, he grabbed the abandoned dagger.

Before Atlas could strike the blade down on Granas who closed his eyes and braced himself, there was a cry of agony which brought Granas to open his eyes to find out why his death had not come. Atlas had dropped the blade once more but this time it wasn't his arm that was stabbed. Valmar had pierced the already bloodied dagger through Atlas' back, he pulled it out and stabbed him again, this time much deeper.

Atlas staggered for a few moments before falling to his knees and then lying down face down to the ground, his eyes dead and lifeless.

Granas shivered a little from the sight but what he saw next was more frightening. Even though Atlas was dead, Valmar did not stop stabbing him, he kept stabbing him over and over again like a raving madman, with some fresh blood flicked on to his face as he continued to puncture new wounds on the deceased Atlas.

"Valmar...that's enough." Granas whispered, eyes quivering at the sight, just what had this place done to his beloved Valmar? Valmar did not heed him the first time and continued.

"Valmar! That's enough! He's already dead, stop it!" Granas became a little more stronger in his voice and used both of his hands to gain Valmar's attention, he forced Valmar's face to look directly at him. "Valmar, please stop! He's dead now, so please...!" Granas called out again, hoping to reach through this time.

It took a few seconds to register through his mind, but eventually Valmar's eyes softened and the driving instincts from before started to numb away. "G-Granas? What...happened?" Valmar looked confused, his mind completely blanked out after he grabbed the dagger, he looked down to see the bloodied mess he made to Atlas. His eyes widened in fear and crawled off him, gripping on to Granas like a scared child.

"Granas! W-what did I just do? I know I always wanted to kill this guy, but-! I didn't...I didn't mean to do this much damage." Valmar was frightened, about himself more than anything. Could the scholar spoken about earlier true? Was his violent nature really becoming more frequent due to the experiments? This was the first time he had ever killed someone, it left him horrified, thinking about how much violence he could do with just one person, what if he accidentally hurt someone innocent? Or even worse, what if he hurt Granas?

"I...I honestly don't know. I'm so sorry, Valmar. These people must have made you suffer...You must have suffered so badly..." Granas shook as tears started to form at the end of his eyes. "If only...If only I had come much sooner..."

Valmar softly smiled and hugged the younger twin. "This is... real. I'm not hallucinating this time, you have no idea how much I missed you..." Valmar said quietly.

Granas returned the hug, trying to hold down his sobs as held on tighter, scared that Valmar would vanish any minute into thin air. "I'm not going to disappear, Granas." Valmar joked.

"I finally see you again after all these years...finally...!" Granas spoke in a broken voice.

Valmar stood up with Granas' standing back up shortly afterwards. "C'mon, we can talk more once we're out of this place. I never want to come here ever again." Valmar turned to the doors.

"...Right, let's go." Granas nodded.

They both ran out of the lab and left Saint Heim far behind them, not stopping until they were on the very outskirts of the city.

~0o0o0o0o0o0~

After a while, they finally stopped running and rested against a large tree in a forested area that laid on the a far distance away from the city itself.

"I think...we'll be safe here." Valmar panted.

"You're tired already? You're usually more energetic than me." Granas looked surprised.

"Heh, they didn't let me out much." Valmar smiled sadly.

"Oh...I see." Granas became quiet again. Valmar embraced him, taking Granas by surprise.

"Looks like we've kept our promise after all." Valmar recalled.

"Mmm, but now you got to promise me that you won't leave again! Please? I don't ever want to feel like that ever again." Granas begged.

"You know that I would keep a promise as important as that, but I'll say it anyway. I promise." Valmar rolled his eyes before making the new promise with sincerity.

"That...makes me feel better." Granas smiled. "You know, you've changed a little." Granas commented.

"Well, eight years does that to someone, but you have no idea...just no idea how much I missed you in that place. It was like hell on earth, in a way, I'm glad that you didn't end up going to that place with me. The things they do in that place..." Valmar went on before Granas hugged him.

"That's over now. You're free and we're back together now. This time, let's start over and make up for those eight years we lost." Granas smiled.

"...Yeah, you're right." Valmar slowly nodded. "Where will go though? Our home is gone." He added.

"I don't know, but we'll find out together tomorrow," Granas told him, resting against the tree. "For now though, we should get some rest." Granas comforted.

"I'm too scared to sleep, what if I go to sleep and wake up finding out this was all but a wishful dream? I don't think I could take it." Valmar answered, leaning back on the tree as well.

Granas understood how Valmar must feel, for him, being in that place must have traumatized him beyond his imagination, enough to make him hallucinate and make the mind fool his actual reality. There wasn't much he could to convince him otherwise that he wasn't dreaming, but he did think of something that might help.

"If you need to, you can always keep hold of my hand, if it will make you feel better enough to sleep." Granas reassured, linking his hand into one of Valmar's hands.

Valmar looked at the linked hands and sighed in content. "You always were the one who can put me at ease. I guess we'll just have to find out tomorrow." Valmar finished before closing his eyes to get some well-needed sleep. Granas soon followed him into the world of dreams, their hands still interlocked with each other.

After eight, long, painful years of seperation, they finally found each other again, fufilling the gentle and innocent promise they made in their childhood. Finally, they were complete once more.

~0o0o0o0o0~

Booyah, chapter II is completed! I hope you all enjoyed the new chapter of this story. I know this is kind of taking liberty of the story, but I wanted to give Valmar at least one reason as to why he ended up the way he did.

Awww, it's so nice to see them reunited again. I personally like it when I think of Granas and Valmar as siblings. =3 It gives a more powerful edge to the story. Gamearts probably never intended this but hey, that's the beauty of fan fics. XD

Anyway, if you could, please read and review the story, I would love to hear your comments on this. Helpful criticism in order to make my writing and this story better is appreciated.

Flames and insults are **NOT **wanted, any found will be ignored. So you would be wasting your time flaming me.

I hope you all enjoyed the second chapter. See ya all in the next chapter for Chapter III! Moogle Empress signing out!

Moogle: Kupo!


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